Neutronic performance of uranium nitride composite fuels in a PWR

Brown, Nicholas R.; Aronson, A.; Todosow, M.; Brito, Ryan A.; McClellan, Kenneth J.

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2014.04.040

Cited by 66 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Although U 3 Si 2 -FeCrAl system has less variation in reactivity from low to high burnup at constant boron concentration, the boron coefficient is also less negative due to the hardened spectrum, which is also presented in UO 2 -FeCrAl combination [30] and UN-U 3 Si 2 combination [31]. Higher boron concentration is needed at the BOC for critical condition, which is presented in I 2 S-LWR [15].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl

Chen

Yuan

2017

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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Neutronic performance is investigated for a potential accident tolerant fuel (ATF), which consists of U 3 Si 2 fuel and FeCrAl cladding. In comparison with current UO 2 -Zr system, FeCrAl has a better oxidation resistance but a larger thermal neutron absorption cross section. U 3 Si 2 has a higher thermal conductivity and a higher uranium density, which can compensate the reactivity suppressed by FeCrAl. Based on neutronic investigations, a possible U 3 Si 2 -FeCrAl fuel-cladding system is taken into consideration. Fundamental properties of the suggested fuel-cladding combination are investigated in a fuel assembly. These properties include moderator and fuel temperature coefficients, control rods worth, radial power distribution (in a fuel rod), and different void reactivity coefficients. The present work proves that the new combination has less reactivity variation during its service lifetime. Although, compared with the current system, it has a little larger deviation on power distribution and a little less negative temperature coefficient and void reactivity coefficient and its control rods worth is less important, variations of these parameters are less important during the service lifetime of fuel. Hence, U 3 Si 2 -FeCrAl system is a potential ATF candidate from a neutronic view.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl

Chen

Yuan

2017

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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“…This suggests that use of U 3 Si 5 as a reactor fuel could only be broadly envisioned if high enrichment was allowed for specialty reactor designs, or as a second fissile phase in a composite fuel where a companion high density fuel would increase the total uranium loading to necessary levels. The primary advantages of U 3 Si 5 identified to date are the neutronic similarity of a UN-U 3 Si 5 composite to reference UO 2 [2], which would minimize LWR operational differences from the viewpoint of the reactor operator, and greatly improved oxidation resistance compared to the more commonly cited U-Si fuel candidate, U 3 Si 2 [3]. Although at this point such a fuel is hypothetical, reactor performance modeling would undoubtedly be an early investment to explore neutronics and burnup as a function of possible reactor designs, fuel loading, and many other parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermophysical properties of U3Si5 to 1773 K

White

Nelson

Byler

et al. 2015

Journal of Nuclear Materials

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a b s t r a c tPossible use of U 3 Si 5 as a nuclear reactor fuel requires knowledge of its thermophysical properties as a function of temperature. While limited data is available for U-Si compounds containing higher uranium densities, no investigations of U 3 Si 5 have been presented in the literature to date. High purity U 3 Si 5 was fabricated to facilitate a set of experiments to determine the coefficient of thermal expansion, heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity from room temperature to 1773 K. Each measurement on nearly stoichiometric U 3 Si 5 showed the existence of a phase transformation at 723 K, which is not consistent with the most recently published phase diagram.

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“…In this context the differences between the configurations were the cladding material, fuel pellet diameter, and cladding thickness. The details of a similar methodology are outlined in Brown et al (2014) in which different lattice configurations are used, along with a set of cross section branch parameters (fuel temperature, moderator density, moderator temperature, soluble boron concentration, and control rod) that bound hot zero power conditions. For each of the candidate configurations, an equilibrium cycle core model was generated using the Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator (PARCS) (Downar et al 2002), the US NRC's reactor-core simulator.…”

Section: /55mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 1. One-quarter-assembly geometry used for generation of the few-group parameters for the reactor core models (Brown et al 2014).…”

Section: /55mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The potential impact of enhanced accident tolerant cladding materials on reactivity initiated accidents in light water reactors

Brown

Wysocki

Terrani

et al. 2017

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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Advanced cladding materials with potentially enhanced accident tolerance will yield different light-water reactor performance and safety characteristics than the present zirconium-based cladding alloys. These differences are due to cladding material properties, reactor physics, and thermal hydraulics characteristics. Differences in reactor physics are driven by the fundamental properties (e.g., neutron absorption cross section in iron for an iron-based cladding) and also by design modifications necessitated by the candidate cladding materials (e.g., a larger fuel pellet to compensate for parasitic absorption). This paper describes three-dimensional nodal kinetics simulations of a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) in a representative pressurized water reactor with both nuclear-grade iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) and silicon-carbide fiber silicon carbide ceramic matrix composite (SiC/SiC) materials. This study shows similar RIA neutronic behavior for SiC/SiC cladding configurations versus reference Zircaloy cladding. However, the FeCrAl cladding response indicates similar energy deposition but with significantly shorter pulses of higher magnitude. This is

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Neutronic performance of uranium nitride composite fuels in a PWR

Cited by 66 publications

References 25 publications

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl

Thermophysical properties of U3Si5 to 1773 K

The potential impact of enhanced accident tolerant cladding materials on reactivity initiated accidents in light water reactors

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Neutronic performance of uranium nitride composite fuels in a PWR

Cited by 66 publications

References 25 publications

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U3Si2-FeCrAl

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U3Si2-FeCrAl

Thermophysical properties of U3Si5 to 1773 K

The potential impact of enhanced accident tolerant cladding materials on reactivity initiated accidents in light water reactors

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Product

Resources

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Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl

Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U₃Si₂-FeCrAl